Thera 6.7: Katiyana
Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Theragatha >> Thera(216):Katiyana Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids. Commentary (Atthakatha) By Acariya Dhammapala Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'. ---- Chapter VI. Six Verses =216. Kātiyāna= He was reborn in this Buddha-age at Sāvatthī as the son of a brahmin(priest) of the Kosiya family,1 but was named Kātiyāna after the family of his mother. Seeing his friend Sāmaññakāni2 become a Thera, he, too, entered the Monk’s order. While at his studies he determined to discipline himself at night as to sleep. While pacing on the terrace he dozed, overcome by sleepiness, and fell right there to the ground. The Lord(Buddha), seeing what had happened, went himself, and standing above him, called him 'Kātiyāna!' He because of that rose up, saluted, and stood much agitated. Then the Lord(Buddha) taught him the Path(Dhamma) thus: ---- 411 Uṭṭhehi nisīdi kātiyāna|| Mā niddābahulo ahu jāgarassu,|| Mā taɱ alasaɱ pamattabandhu|| Kūṭeneva jinātumaccurājā.|| || 412 Sayathāpi mahāsamuddavego|| Evaɱ jātijarātivattate taɱ,|| So karohi sudīpamattanā tvaɱ|| Na hi tāṇaɱ tava vijjateva aññaɱ.|| || 413 Satthā hi vijesi maggametaɱ|| Saŋgā jātijarābhayā atītaɱ,|| Pubbāpararattamappamatto|| Anuyuñjassu daḷhaɱ karohi yogaɱ.|| || 414 Purimāni pamuñca bandhanāni|| Saŋghāṭi khuramuṇḍabhikkhabhojī,|| Mā khiḍḍāratiñca niddaɱ|| Anuyuñjittha jhāya kātiyāna. || || 415 Jhāyāhi jināhi kātiyāna|| Yogakkhemapathesu kovidosi,|| Pappuyya anuttaraɱ visuddhaɱ|| Parinibbāhisi vārināva joti.|| || 416 Pajjotikaro parittaraɱso|| Vātena vinamyate latāva,|| Evampi tuvaɱ anādiyāno|| Māraɱ indasagotta niddhunāhi,|| So vedayitāsu vītarāso|| Kālaɱ kaŋkha idheva sītibhūto' ti.|| || ---- 411 Rise up, arouse you, Kātiyāna, seat you crosslegged.3 Be not filled with drowsiness. Watch and keep vigil. Child of heedless race, let not the King of Mortals By a simple trick overcome you self-indulgent. 412 Even as billow sweeping over the mighty ocean So may round of birth and age overwhelm and drown you. See that you do make yourself an island of safety,4 For nothing else is there may serve you as a refuge. 413 Lo! for you the Lord(Buddha) has prepared this Right Way, Past all bonds and past all fear of birth and dying. Be you diligent when night is young, and after; Strive with all your might, and strenuous make your study. 414 Loose all earlier ties; live as befits a Monk, Robed in yellow dress, by razor shaved head, and alms fed. Be not glad for pastimes, nor to lengthened slumbers5 Be addicted. Contemplate, O Kātiyāna! 415 Concentrate, conquer, O Kātiyāna! Make you Adept in the path to sure salvation leading. Have you won the ultimate purification, You shall reach the Going-out, as flame in water. 416 Light of feeble ray is as a wind-torn creeper. So do you, clansman of Indra,6 clutching nothing, Shake off Mara(deathlord/devil). Cleansed of passion for sensations, Wait your hour, even here in holy peaceful living. ---- Thus aided by the Lord(Buddha)'s discourse to win the Nibbāna in which is no residual base of rebirth, the Thera developed insight and attained arahantship(enlightenment). Thereafter he uttered the verses as taught by the Lord(Buddha) in confessing aññā(supreme attainment). ---- 1 Cf. CCIX. 2 See XXXV. 3 So the Commentary as the prescribed posture for meditation. 4 Cf. Sutta-Nipāta, 501. 5 The Cy. (Br.) supplies the other ca after niddaɱ. 6 Kosiyagotta. Kosiya is one of the god Indra's names. The application of the simile of the light (lamp) is not, I venture to think, that Māra's(deathlord/devil) death-torch was to be extinguished by Kosiya (cf. Neumann), but that his own rebirth - 'fire,' grown 'cool' and low, was in dying out to checkmate Māra's designs for his rebirth. ---- =6.7 216 Commentary on the stanza of Kātiyānatthera= The stanza starting with Uṭṭhehi constitutes that of the venerable thera Kātiyāna. What is the origin? This one also, having done devoted deeds of service toward former Buddhas, accumulating acts of merit in this and that existence, was reborn as the son of a certain brahmin, of the clan of Kosiya; having gained the name Kātiyāna by way of the clan of his mother, he came of age, happened to have seen the thera who had been the lay companion of the thera Sāmaññakāni, became a monk, and doing his duties of a monk and at night ascended the cloister-walk (caṅkama) saying to himself: “I shall dispel (vinodessāmi) my sleepy drowsiness (niddābhibhavaṃ).” Walking about to and fro, he became overwhelmed with sleep; he was beginning to does (pacalāyamāno), fell down (paripatitvā) and lay himself down but there on the bare ground (anantarahitāya bhūmiyā); the Master came to find out that happening (pavattiṃ) of his, went there Himself stood in the sky, and minded (saññaṃ akāsi) the thera as “O Kātiyāna.” On having sighted the Master, he stood up, paid Him his homage, and remained remorseful. Thereupon, the Master said these stanzas in order to teach him the truth (dhamma). 411. “O Kātiyāna! Stand up; sit down; Do not be overcome by much sleep; you should be wakeful; do not let the king of death, the kinsman of negligence, overcome you as a lazy monk but by mean of his smare (kūṭa). 412. According as the speed waves of the great ocean, in the same manner birth and old age spread over you (one above the other). You should make a good island of your own; because there exists but no other shelter for you. 413. “Indeed, the Master prepared (vijesi) this path (magga), which can lead beyond (atītaṃ) the clinging (saṅga) lust (rāga) etc., and the danger of birth and old age. You should make your meditation (yoga) firm, putting forth your continuous effort (anuyuṅjassa) by being diligently mindful both in the early and later portion of nights. 414. “O Kātiyāna! Rel*age your former fetters, since you are now clad in double robe (saṅghaṭi), bald-headed by means of razor and fed by alms-food. Let there be no sportful joy (khiḍḍārati); tinuous effort (anuyuñjittha) and meditate (jhāya). 415. “O Kātiyāna! Burn your depravity with deep meditation (jhāyāhi); do know that your depravity had been conquered (jānāhi), you should be clever in reaching the path to nibbāna, secure from four bondages (yoga). Having attained the unsurpassed (anuttaraṃ) clear purity (visuddhiṃ), you should enter parinibbāna resembling the mass of fire (joti) extinguished by water. 416. “A lamp lighted with a wee wick is like a creeper easily eliminated by wind. In the same manner, O you of the clan like unto inda shake away Māra by being free from attachment. You who are that one as have become devoid of lust (rāga) in all sensations (vedayitāsu) and having become cool (i.e. bound for nibbāna, in this very existence, abide by your time (kaṅkha). There, Utthehi means: make your active (uṭṭhāna) (vīriya) after getting up from having gone off to sleep; since lying down is known as belonging to the wing of laziness, therefore, do not lie down to sleep. Nisīda means: sit down crossing your legs keeping your body resolutely straight, setting your mindfullness alert. Kātiyāna means: Buddha addressed him by his name. Mā niddābahulo ahu means: do not be sleeping abundantly and do not be overcome by sleep. Jāgarassu means: be wakeful, do continuously indulge in wakefulness. Mā taṃ alasaṃ pamattabandhu, kuṭen’eva jinātu maccurājā means: do not let king of death, kinsman of negligence defeat, overcome and envelope (ajjhottharatu) you, lazy, idle and not continuously connected with wakefulness with old age and ailments similar to a hunter capturing either a deer or a winged creature without way laying (duhana); thus, is the meaning. Seyyathā pi means: perhaps according as. Mahāsamuddevego means: the speedy vigour of waves of large oceans. Evaṃ means: according as the violently speedy waves of large oceans as they swell and rise up overwhelm a man who is unable to pass over them, in the same manner birth and old age as well, ativsttate one above the other swallow (ajjhottharati) up him who is overcome with laziness (kosajjābhibhūtaṃ). So karohi sudīpaṃ attano means: O Kātiyāna! You should make an island to spring up (uppādehi) in your own bodily system (santāna) reckoned as the fruition of Arahantship, which should not be swalowed (anajjhottharaniyaṃ) by the four floods (ogha). Na hi tāṇaṃ tave vijjate’eva aññaṃ means: hi is an indeclinable pariticle in the sense of cause (hetu); Since there does not exist (upalabbhati) either here or in the next world any other shelter (tāṇaṃ) for you besides and beyond the foremost fruition, therefore, you should make that good island reckoned as Arahantship. Satthā hi vijesi maggaṃ etam means: the Master conquered (vījesi) and prepared (sādhesi) for you the noble (ariya) path (magga) which has gone beyond the danger of birth and so on, as well as the five kinds of attachment (saṅga) and which has become the cause of that good island after having overcome Māra, etc., that which could not be accomplished (sādhetuṃ avisahanta) by many holders of other views (aññatitthiyā) since they have become defeated. Pubbāpararatt appamatto means: since what belongs to the Master should be achieved (adhigantabbaṃ) by His disciples and not to be missed (na vissa jetabbam), therefore, for the achievement of that, he should be aware (sato) and thoughtful (sampajāno) during the earlier and later portion of nights, in the first watch up to last watch of the night. Anuyuñja yogaṃ means: having become so, you should make your meditation (bhāvanā) firm. Purimāni pamuñca bandhanāni means: set yourself free and release yourself from the fetters of strands of sensual pleasures, the layman’s bound you up formerly at the time you was a householder; you should have no regard (anapekkho) there. Saṅghāti khuramuṇabhikkhabhojī means: the wearer of double robe (saṅghātidhārī), bald headed made (katasiramundo) by a razor (khurenā), fed by alms-food (bhikkhāhārabhogī); thus, a set of three varieties (vidha) is the instrumental or causal expression (kāranavacanaṃ) of being continuously connected with joy in sport and sleep headed (pamokkha) by former bondage (purimabandhana); since you, who dress yourself in double robe (saṅghātipāruto) are bald-headed (muṇḍo) lives as one whose food is what has been begged; therefore, it is not befitting to you to ever indulge in the bliss of sensual pleasures as well as in sport, jubilation and sleep; censequently, set yourself free from fetters and do not indulge in sport, jubilation and sleep; thus, is the interpretation. Jhāya means: do enter upon jhāna; anuyuñja means: continuously connect yourself with reflection (upanijjhānaṃ) on the object of concentration (ārammana). Practising it, however, and as a result of entering upon whatever jhāna, forms of depravity (kilesā) become conquered in all respects (sabbaso jitā); he said the stanza starting with “Jhāyāhi jināhi,” in order to show thus; do practise that reflection (upanijjhāna) on the characteristic mark (ḷakkhaṇa). Yogakkhemapathesu kovido’si means: you should be clever and versed in the doctrines (dhamma) of the wing (pakkhiya) of enlightenment (bodhi) which have become the paths to nibbāna secure from the four fetters (yoga). Anuttaraṇvisuddhiṃ pappuyya means: therefore, intently indulging (ussukkāpento) in the development of meditation (bhāvanā), you will enter parinibbāna after, however, having attained Arahantship bound for nibbāna, the clearly pure condition unsurpassed by any and every thing. Vārinā va joti means: you will enter complete nibbāna with the fulling down (nipāta) of the rain-shower (vuṭṭhi) of noble (ariya) path (magga) similar to (the disappearance of) mass of fire by the falling down of shower of rain water of abundant character. Pajjotakaro means: the lamp which supplies light (pajjotiṃ karo). Parittaraṃso means: that has a small wick. Vinamyate means: extinguished (vinamīyati) and dispelled (apaniyyati). Latā va means: like a creeper. This has been said:– according as either a lamp with meagre ray (parittaraṃso) and feeble light (mandapabho) due to deficiency of (vekalla) such supports (paccaya) as wick and so on, or a small (appikā) creeper, gets blown off and destroyed vidhamiyyati (viddhamsiyyati), in the same manner you also will be blown off and destroyed. Indasagotta means: O you whose clan is similar to that of inda, sakka, owing to his clan being Kosiya. Anādiyāno means: without turning out to be (anāvattanā) under and owing to not being attached to (anupādānato) the influence of him (Māra) niddhunāhi means: ruin him and destroy Māra; in this manner, however, destroying (Māra) you will have your lustful desire (chandarāga) removed in all sensations felt by you; Idh’eva means: in this very existence (attabhāva); sītibhūte means: owing to the absence of heat and burning of all depravity (kilesa) you will have all your fires extinguished and cooled down; Kaṅkha means: you wait for the time of your parinibbāna. In this manner, owing to the teaching made by the Master, after having made him reach nibbāna which does not leave behind any substratum of existence, the thera, at the end of the teaching, increasingly developed spiritual insight (vipassanā) and attained Arahantship. Having, however, attained Arahantship, he spoke these stanzas but in the manner taught by the Master. They (these stanzas) but became the revelation of the thera’s Arahantship (aññā). The Commentary on the stanza of the Thera Kātiyāna is complete. ----